The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs edged Surrey’s Holy Cross Crusaders 67-64 in Saturday night’s tension-filled 4A final at the Langley Events Centre to capture the first senior boys title in school history.
They were led by the sublime 30-point performance of tournament MVP Mindy Minhas and became the first public school from Vancouver, other than four-time winner Kitsilano, to capture the title since the 1961 Magee Lions.
The Bulldogs still managed to forge into a 34-31 halftime advantage.
The Bulldogs were up 62-55 with 2:04 remaining but couldn’t hit any foul shots down the stretch. They were a ghastly 4-for-16 in the fourth quarter, enabling Holy Cross to stay in the game.
The Crusaders did narrow the margin to 62-61 with a minute to go.
They had a final possession, needing a trey to force overtime, and fell just short.
In the 3A final played earlier Saturday, Burnaby’s St. Thomas Moore Knights thumped the Charles Hays Rainmakers of Prince Rupert 53-38, the rain storm outside apparently no help to the Rainmakers indoors.
The Knights, after surrendering the game’s first basket, took the lead from there and never relinquished it.
They were up by quarter scores of 15-11, 31-24 and 41-29 and took full command early in the third when they reeled off the first seven points to go up by 14 points.